In what had been forecast as the most "unpredictable election in years", with Labour and the Tories supposedly neck-and-neck, the outlook suddenly changed when an exit poll late on Thursday put the Conservatives very close to winning an overall majority.

The result led to Ed Miliband resigning as Labour leader, with the SNP wiping out his party in Scotland, while Nick Clegg also bowed out of the top job with the Liberal Democrats after a crushing night.

"I am absolutely thrilled," he said. "No MP can ever take his majority for granted and the idea of a safe seat is gone.

"I hope I will always be a local campaigning MP, who is as much involved in the local issues as the national one."

Kwasi Kwarteng hailed an "extraordinary" triumph for the Conservatives as he secured a second term as MP for Spelthorne, while Crispin Blunt - re-elected in Reigate - said voters had given Prime Minister David Cameron a "handsome mandate to allow [him] to continue with the work he has been doing".

Dominic Raab put his victory in Esher & Walton down to "hard work, elbow grease and a great team around me".

And in Runnymede & Weybridge, Philip Hammond was "delighted" to be elected for a fifth term.

Michael Gove cruised to victory in Surrey Heath again with 32,582 votes and told the BBC that the exit poll indications - which were confirmed by Friday lunchtime - were "an unprecedented vote of confidence in David Cameron's leadership, and in particular the message that if you want to secure the economic recovery then you have got to make sure that he is in Downing Street".